The Ways of Magic
by Darthmatt005
Summary: An amnesiac boy turns up in Jump City. The Titans find out that he is the wizard Rorek. Why has Rorek turned up in Jump City, and does it have anything to do with Raven?. Read and Review.
1. Default Chapter

The Ways of Magic

A/N: This was originally titled "Death and Rebirth" This is my first fan fic, and I would be grateful if you would review it. If you like it, tell me why. If you don't like it, I would appreciate criticism (constructive criticism only please.) If you haven't seen the episode "Spellbound", I would highly recommend watching it before you read this story, as it will give you a better understanding of what's going on. Enjoy the story.

Chapter 1:

"Is Raven going to be ok?" Beast Boy asked as he took a large bite of tofu. It had been a week since Raven had banished a monstrous dragon back into the book in which it was originally imprisoned. The dragon had told Raven that it was the wizard that had supposedly killed the dragon king, and had subsequently become imprisoned in a book. Ever since that event, Raven had been acting strange, and oftentimes would lose control of her emotions, causing random objects to explode as her powers seeped out.

All of the Titans, except Raven, were sitting around the table, stuffing their face with pancakes that Cyborg had made. No one was surprised that Raven wasn't with them, as she spent a lot of time in her room meditating. Meditating was the only way that Raven could keep her powers in check.

Robin looked up from his plate of half-eaten pancakes, "Yeah, Raven will be fine. It will just take her a little while to get past the shock of discovering that the person who she believed to be her friend was actually a demon."

Cyborg agreed, "Give her a week and she'll be back to being her normal, creepy self." Someone standing in the doorway cleared their throat. The Titans looked up to see that it was Raven.

Cyborg, obviously embarrassed, said, "Oh hi Raven. I...didn't see you standing there." Beast Boy laughed and mouthed the word "Busted.". Starfire giggled, "Raven, perhaps you would like to go to the mall and 'hang out'. It would be fun."

Raven let out a large sigh, "Starfire, for the thousandth time, hanging out is not my-"A high, piercing alarm cut Raven off in mid sentence. Robin jumped out of his chair, "Titans, let's go!"

* * *

Ten minutes later, the five Titans were staring at one of the strangest sights they had ever seen. They had been expecting to have to deal with some jewelry thieves, but it appeared that someone had already taken care of them. There were four men, encased in a shell of red light, suspended six feet above the ground. And below them was a boy, who looked as if he had passed out. He looked to be the same age as the Titans, and was clothed in a green cloak. He definitely seemed out of place in a downtown urban environment.

Robin approached the boy and gave him a shake. The boy moaned, looked up at Robin and said, "What happened? Where am I?" Robin replied, "As for what happened, I'm hoping you can tell me. And you're in downtown Jump City."

The boy pulled himself to his feet, and winced in pain. Cyborg walked over towards them and said, "Hey man, are you hurt?" The boy said, "Yeah, I feel like a ton of bricks has been dropped all over me."

Raven, who was hovering a few feet off the ground, said, "Let's get him back to Titans Tower. I can use my healing powers to help him faster than any doctors could." The other Titans agreed. As they were getting in Cyborg's car, the police showed up.

One of the officers yelled, "Thanks! It really makes it easy for us when you leave the crooks gift wrapped like that." Robin leaned out the window and said, "Its no problem.".

Robin rolled up the window and looked at the boy in the green cloak, "Did you do that? Was it you who hung those guys up like that?" Robin lowered his voice so Raven couldn't hear, "I only ask because that's a powerful trick. Raven can do the same thing, but she has to concentrate on it to keep-"The boy cut him off, and said in a surprisingly deep voice, "I can't remember anything before you woke me up. I don't even know who I am. And I don't think I could do something like that." Robin looked out the window, towards Titans Tower, which was growing larger as they approached. "Well," Robin said, "We'll try to get your memory situation straightened out once we get home." The boy was looking around at the group of people in the car. "Hey," he said, "You might have said this already, but who are you guys?"

Cyborg briefly looked back at the new kid and said, "We're the Teen Titans." Everyone proceeded to introduce themselves to the kid. For the remainder of the trip, everyone sat in silence.

* * *

They arrived at Titans Tower and took the elevator up to the living area, which was littered with many of Beast Boy's movies and CDs, not to mention a healthy amount of very unhealthy looking food. The boy in green looked at Cyborg and said, "Hey, what's that blue pudding stuff under the-"Cyborg put a finger to his lips in the universal 'Be quiet' gesture and said, "I'll tell you later."

Starfire piped up, "Since we have a new friend in the tower, I am going to make the Pudding of Welcoming!" As soon as Starfire left the room, the other Titans groaned. Cyborg looked at the new guy and said, "Now, in answer to your question, when she brings you a bowl of that stuff, get rid of it anyway you can. You do not want to eat it."

An hour later, the Titans were sitting around watching TV when Raven said, "I'm going to see if I can help that kid find his memory." Beast Boy looked at Raven, "Yeah Raven, you should probably do that because, you know, its not like anyone else can do it." Raven gave Beast Boy a glare and said to the amnesiac kid, "Ok, relax, this isn't going to hurt," and put her hands on the boy's head. Raven chanted her mantra that she used for meditation, "Azerath metrion zinthos." Her hands glowed with black energy, and a look of extreme concentration came over her face. After about ten seconds, a blast of red light exploded out of the boy and sent Raven flying across the room. She hit the wall with a thud and fell to the floor. The Titans ran over to where Raven was struggling to stand up.

When Raven made it to her feet she said in a soft voice, "There was a shield over his memories, I couldn't read anything at all."

Starfire cried, "Look!" and pointed in the direction of the boy that had just wrecked half of their living room. He was hovering a foot above the ground, chanting in some unknown language. An aura of red light surrounded him like an unearthly cloak. The Titans were shocked when a brilliant red light filled their living room with an eerie glow. The boy fell to the ground, unconscious, and the light subsided.

Robin looked at Raven and said, "Did you learn anything about him at all?" Raven said, "Yeah, he's a magic user, and a powerful one at that. Since he hasn't said anything about his powers, we have to assume that he doesn't know about them. If that's the case, then we know why he can't control them."

Beast Boy looked at Raven and said, "But how could he hang those criminals out to dry and not know he did it? Also, who is that guy? I mean, we know nothing about him at all."

"That's what we need to find out, before he hurts anybody worse than he already has," Raven said in a slightly angry voice.

The boy on the ground groaned and sat up. He looked around at the trashed room, "What happened?" he said in a groggy voice. "The last thing I remember is Raven putting her hands on my head so she could read my mind."

Raven waited for the boy to get to his feet before she said, "I'm going to try something, and if what I'm thinking is right, it won't hurt." Before anyone could say anything, Raven threw a bolt of black energy at the boy's chest.

It never reached its target, because a tendril of red energy shot out of the boy and hit Raven's blast in mid flight. The effect was startling. The two bolts seemed to mix, and then exploded in a shower of gold sparks. The strange young man's jaw almost hit the floor, and he was barely able to say, "What just happened?"

Raven looked at the other Titans, "He's a mage, although I've never seen magic quite like that before. It takes a high degree of mastery of power to be able to unconsciously counter another spell, which is what he just did." The boy, who had been standing in silence, said, "I'm...a mage? What's that?" Raven looked at him and said, "A wizard, you can manipulate reality with the force of your will."

The other Titans seemed to come out of a trance, and Robin said, "I think you should stay with us until we figure out who you are?" The other Titans nodded their heads in agreement.

Raven tapped the nameless boy on the shoulder and said, "You should try meditation. It helps me keep my powers under control, and maybe it will do the same for you."

The boy responded, "After what I just saw myself do, I think controlling this power is a good idea." He looked around the room, noticing the mess. "How'd the room get so messed up?"

Raven replied, "I think it's both our faults. You apparently have a mental shield of sorts over your memory. When I tried to read you, you kind of exploded with red light."

The nameless boy blushed, "Sorry," he said, looking at the other Titans. Cyborg reassured the him that it wasn't his fault.

Raven suddenly looked up. "I need to meditate," she looked at the nameless boy, "And I think you should too."

* * *

Raven led the boy up to her usual meditation spot in front of a large window. They both sat down on the floor and Raven said, "Find your center and repeat after me. Azerath metrion zinthos..."

The boy did as he was told, and soon felt as if he was descending into his own mind. Images flickered in front of the boys eyes that he didn't understand. Faster and faster the images came, until the boy felt as if he was watching a long flip-book.

Suddenly the images stopped, and the boy fell into blackness.

* * *

"Hey, are you ok? You have to snap out of it." The boy's eyes suddenly seemed to start working normally, and he noticed that he was sprawled on the floor, with Raven crouching beside him.

The boy sat up, "Yeah, I think I'm ok." Raven noticed that somehow, the boy seemed different.

Raven asked, "So...do you remember anything?"

The boy smiled and said, "Yes. My name is Rorek. Your not going to believe this, but right before Robin woke me up downtown, I think I was fighting a dragon."

An excited look came over Raven's face, "Oh, I think I could believe it. I'm going to tell the others." She flew out of the room, disappearing through the wall.

Sitting in the now empty room, Rorek thought to himself, "That's the happiest I've ever seen her get. And it happened right after I said my name."

* * *

A/N: I hoped you liked this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please review it to show any appreciation you might have. 


	2. Chapter 2

The Ways of Magic

A/N: Well, chapter two is done. As I've said before, please, please, PLEASE review my story. I want to become a better writer and the best way to do that is through constructive criticism. An a different note, I would like to team up with someone and start another story. If you would like to team up with me, email me (my email is in my profile).

Chapter 2

Rorek was alone in a dark oblivion. He knew that he wasn't supposed to be alone, but it seemed as though he was. As despair began to set in, a terrible earthquake began to cause his terrible prison to tremble as if in fear. For the first time in centuries, he saw a light cast its radiant glow on his surroundings. A hellish landscape of shattered stone and pools of burning sulfur was revealed the Rorek. As Rorek looked at the light he realized he could see a person within it. It was a girl of about his age, clad in a purple cloak. More surprising still, he could see that she was in the grip of a huge dragon. Memories flooded back into Rorek's mind. "Malchiar," he said, remembering his terrible, final battle from so long ago. He watched the young girl vainly attempt to escape the dragons grip. "In ages past, I couldn't stop you from killing innocent people. But this time is different." Malchiar shuddered as he remembered the burning villages where Malchiar had let loose the full extent of his wrath.

"Never again," Rorek said. He saw the girl summon the ancient tome where, until a little while ago, he had been imprisoned with Malchiar. "Use the curse," Rorek said, "You must use the curse." Suddenly, he could hear what was going on beyond the glowing ball of light. He heard the girls voice, "You may have taught me spells, but I just learned a curse." Rorek sighed, "Malchiar will be weakened from his binding into this book. I should be able to finish this once and for all, instead of falling into another centuries long stalemate." Suddenly, the form of the great dragon appeared before Rorek. Before the dragon could fully absorb his surroundings, Rorek raised his staff and yelled, "Concasta librit infernus!" A column of white hot fire descended from the black sky, and enveloped Malchiar.

Thus it passed that Malchiar, who had caused so many people to burn, died in a pillar of white hot fire.

Rorek watched the dragons corpse turn into a pile a ash before he said, "I have managed to kill the king of the dragons. Let's see if I can manage to escape this prison of my own design." Rorek began to cast his most powerful spells of teleportation, using that strange girl's energies as a beacon. She was a powerful magic user, but he still wanted to know what would cause her to summon an ancient dragon. Rorek smiled and said, "That was about the most reckless thing I have ever seen," and continued casting his spells. Suddenly, Rorek suddenly felt as if his soul was being torn from his body. Rorek had time to say, "I wonder where I will arrive?" before he lost consciousness.

Rorek sat up in bed. "Only a dream," Rorek said through deep breaths. He looked out the window and saw the sun climbing a clear blue sky. He could barely detect the scent of ham drying in a skillet. "Cyborg must really like breakfast." Rorek got out of bed and pulled on his green cloak. As he was leaving the room, he noticed something propped up against the door.

It was his staff.

Rorek arrived in the dining room just in time to see Cyborg place four huge plates of eggs, ham, and bacon on the table. Beast Boy halfway through a plate of tofu when he looked at Rorek, "Hey, Raven tells us your some sort of wizard" The other three Titans in the room turned around and stared at Rorek expectantly. Beast Boy said, "Well come on, do something. Use some of your magic that Raven told us so much about."

Rorek looked slightly annoyed and said, "I know how I got to Jump City." Robin suddenly had an expression of interest on his face and said, "Ok, how did you get here?" Rorek sat down and started eating. After a minute, Beast Boy loudly said, "Come on man, don't keep us in suspense. We've been trying to guess how you got here since we got up."

Starfire looked up from where she was eating a plate full of eggs, pickles, and mayonnaise, "Yes, we have been pondering that all morning. Beast Boy said he thought 'aliens' had left you here." Beast Boy gave an embarrassed laugh.

Rorek looked up and said, "It's pretty simple. Whenever Raven banished the dragon back into the book, it was weak. It took me no effort at all to finish it off. After it was dead, I used Raven's energies as a beacon and manage to pull myself out of the book."

As Rorek finished his explanation, Raven entered the room. She walked over to the table and sat down. Rorek looked at her and asked, "What could cause you to want to summon the king of the dragons back into this world?"

Raven gave Rorek an evil look and quickly left the room. Robin and Cyborg looked at each other. After a few seconds, Robin said, "She never told you, did she?"

Rorek looked confused, "Never told me what?" Robin sighed and said, "That dragon had told Raven that it was a wizard who had killed the king of the dragons. She wasn't trying to summon a dragon." Robin paused and then said, "She was trying to save you."

Rorek sat up straight and said, "What? She was trying to save me? I had no idea." He placed his plate on the large stack of dishes that rose about two feet out of the sink. "Hey guys," Rorek said, "I have some things that I have to do."

Five minutes later, Rorek was standing outside Raven's room. For a second, he thought he could hear sobbing coming from inside. He knocked on the door, and it slowly opened, revealing a very distraught looking Raven. A look of surprise crossed her face. Rorek said, "I need to talk to you about some stuff."

Raven said, "You need to talk to me about what?" To Rorek, it was obvious that she was having trouble controlling her emotions, and he didn't want to be on the receiving end of one of her energy blasts.

Rorek looked Raven in the eyes and said, "I want to thank you for trying to save me from that book."

Raven was shocked, "You were in that book too?"

Rorek said, "Yeah, for the past few centuries, we have been locked in that book. As I fought Malchiar in this world, I realized that I could never kill it. I came to the conclusion that I could at least bind both of us into this tome, where I could keep fighting Malchiar forever. That would have kept him weak enough so that he would never escaped. I would have contacted you, but Malchiar's mental powers were far beyond mine. He had no trouble blocking my attempts at communicating with you."

Raven looked at him, with a sad expression on her face, "Whenever I still believed Malchiar was...you...it seemed like he was the only one who didn't find me creepy."

Rorek said, "I don't find you creepy." Raven looked at him in disbelief, so Rorek added, "If you'd seen half of what I have, you'd know I'm telling the truth." Raven blushed furiously.

As Rorek walked away, Raven felt weird at being complimented by a vastly superior spellcaster. Suddenly Rorek stopped, and almost as if he had picked up on that thought, turned around and said, "Hey Raven, don't sell yourself short. Aside from me, you're probably the only living person who could successfully use my curse to imprison the king of the dragons. Never sell yourself short like that." Rorek disappeared down the hall.

Rorek went into his room and meditated in the way that Raven showed him for an hour or two. As he came out of his trance, he grabbed his staff. "It's time to see if I've still got it." He pointed his staff in the direction of his bed. He raised his staff, and watched in fascination as the bed rose off the floor as if connected to the staff. Rorek laughed, "Oh yeah, I've still got it."

Later, Rorek was sitting on the couch in the living room watching one of Beast Boy's movies when Raven sat down beside him. Trying to be nice, Rorek said, "Do you want to watch something else?" Rorek was watching a comedy, and he felt pretty sure that Raven wasn't a fan of comedies.

Raven said, "No, this is ok," and went to make herself a glass of herbal tea. When she returned, Starfire was handing Rorek a bowl of one of her many Tamaranian puddings. Raven sat down and said, "You should try that pudding, its not bad." Rorek fell for it. He shoved some pudding in his mouth and began to swallow it. He never got it down his throat. He ran, gagging, to the bathroom. A few minutes later, Rorek emerged from the bathroom. He sat down beside Raven and said, "That wasn't funny."

Raven laughed, which had the side effect of shattering the TV screen. They sat there in silence for a minute before Raven looked at Rorek and said, "You really don't think I'm creepy?"

Rorek looked back at her and said, "No, I don't"

That evening, at dinner the Titans were surprised that Raven decided to show up and talk to them during dinner. Robin had a worried look on his face. Starfire noticed and said, "There is something wrong?"

Robin looked around the table and said, "Maybe. I was thinking about how Rorek said he got here. If he destroyed that dragon and then immediately pulled himself out of the book, that would mean he got out right after our fight with the dragon."

Rorek seemed to know where Robin was going with this, so he said, "Raven imprisoned the dragon a week ago, and I can't remember anything before you guys found me two days ago. I think for those five days, I had some control over my powers, because I managed to capture those thieves."

Beast Boy cut in, "But you were unconscious when we found you, so that means-"

It was Raven's turn to interrupt Beast Boy. She said, "Someone didn't want you to know who you are."

The five Titans and one wizard got very nervous as they began to realize the implications of what Raven had said.


	3. Chapter 3

The Ways of Magic

A/N: Hey, Matt K. here. I usually wouldn't update this much this fast, but I'm recovering from being hit by an 18 wheeler. I guess that works out good for those of you who like this story, because I have plenty of time to write it. If you decide to review my story, please tell me if you think I should keep Rorek in my next one, because I'm thinking of continuing this story line that I have in my head. Don't worry though, this story is not over yet, not by a long shot. Enjoy the story. Oh yeah, I like the ending of this chapter.

Chapter 3:

Rorek was standing on top of Titans Tower looking down at the city below. Suddenly, a figure landed beside him. He was clad all in black with a hood covering his face. "Well," the figure said, "You must be Rorek." Rorek looked at the new figure and said, "Yeah, that's me. Who are you?" The figure gave a cold laugh, "The real question here is 'Who are _you_?'" He pointed at Rorek and continued, "Another important question is...what's your purpose here in Jump City?" Rorek shook his head and said, "I don't know. I guess it's to eventually join the Titans and make this world a better place." The strange figure said in a cold voice, "You don't have a clue, do you?" He gave another cold laugh, "You know she's going to betray you, don't you? You can feel it in your heart, can't you?" Rorek took a step back, "Who's going to betray me?" The man in black chuckled, "She's empty inside, just like you. Just like you." An angry look came over Rorek's face, "You can't be talking about Raven! Raven is my friend, she would never betray me!" The man advanced a few menacing steps toward Rorek, "Rorek, you know I am talking about Raven. In your time of need, she and the rest of the Titans will leave you to rot." The man looked up at the sky, "It's time for you to depart. Remember what I said." Rorek said, "Time for me to depart?" The man nodded, and raised his hand towards Rorek. Rorek felt himself being pushed over the edge of Titans Tower.

Rorek was falling extremely fast, faster than gravity should be able to take him. Just before he hit the ground, everything went black.

In Titans Tower, both Raven and Rorek woke up screaming.

It was Saturday morning, and the Titans were almost done with breakfast by the time Rorek made it down. Cyborg offered him some breakfast, but Rorek turned it down, saying he wasn't hungry.

Rorek heard the voice from his dream in his head, 'Time for you to depart.'. Rorek thought 'Yes, it is time for me to go. The Teen Titans will manage without me.' He looked at everyone and said, "I'm going out for a little while, I'll be back later." He felt guilty about lying to his friends. "If they _are_ my friends." After all, he had been at Titans Tower for two weeks. He had assisted in taking down his fair share of bad guys, and still they did not offer him a spot on the team. As Rorek left Titans Tower, he felt a pang of guilt about leaving Raven.

He walked towards downtown Jump City, determined to not return to Titans Tower, because for some reason he knew that his dream last night was not just a dream. That man...that voice had seemed very familiar to him, and he believed what the man said. "What would cause Raven and the other Titans to betray me?" he said out loud. He felt himself being drawn to a place where the powers of magic flowed freely from the earth. This would be a good place for him to meditate...and to train.

It was late afternoon at Titans Tower, and Starfire was eating an egg, cucumber, and bologna sandwich while watching Cyborg and Beast Boy play video games. She shoved the sandwich down her throat in the typical Tamaranian style of eating and said, "I have not seen our friend Rorek since this morning. Do you think he is in danger?"

Cyborg looked at Starfire and said, "No, Rorek can take care of himself." Beast Boy agreed, "Yeah, he can definitely watch out for himself." Two days before, Rorek had used his magic to stick Beast Boy to the ceiling after several failed attempts by Beast Boy to make a joke.

Starfire looked reassured, "Perhaps, like Raven, he just needs some time alone."

Cyborg wasn't listening anymore. "Yeah, what she said." He mumbled as he tried to catch up with Beast Boy in their favorite racing game.

Raven paced around her room, unable to shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen. She was worried about Rorek, although she would never admit it. For some reason she didn't understand, she had seemed to have been in Rorek's dream as an observer. She began to look through her books, determined to find some reference to a strange figure in black.

After an hour of searching, it hit her. She immediately sat down and began to meditate, hoping to use her empathy skills to locate Rorek. She hoped she was not too late.

It was about nine 'o' clock at night, and Robin was finishing his patrol of the city when he saw something strange. On top of one of the high rise buildings, there was a strange gathering. It looked like a group of cultists of some sort. They were all dressed in gray cloaks and were all chanting around a fire. Robin said, "Can people get any dumber?" and used his grappling hook to hoist himself up to the top of the building.

Rorek was in a daze. He had begun to try and find out how far his powers would go, and the results were surprising. He found that he could unleash massive amounts of energy by simply visualizing it. Extended his staff and several fiery meteors, each about the size of a baseball, rocketed away from him and exploded when they hit a wall. After that, he made a beam of green energy that seemed to disintegrate whatever it touched.

Rorek gave a half smile, "If anyone tries to betray me now, they will pay for it in spades. I just hope that I am wrong about believing that guy."

He looked around at all of the destruction he had wrought. It was impressive, to say the least. Rorek saw something he hadn't seen before and said, "How did I miss _that_?"

It was now nine thirty, and four Titans were starting to get worried about Rorek's whereabouts. After all, Rorek may not be an official Teen Titan, but he was still a good friend, and a very capable fighter.

For the past half hour, Starfire had been asking them to help her find Rorek. She had asked, and asked, and asked again before Cyborg gave in. "Ok Star, I'll go help you find Rorek."

As Cyborg and Starfire were preparing to leave, Raven came down from her room. "I'm going with you." she said in a voice that brooked no argument. The three of them left.

A few minutes later, Beast Boy emerged from his room, where he had been reading his comic books. He looked around and noticed that everyone was gone, and decided that the others had gave in to Starfire's constant begging. He sat on the couch and began to watch TV. He was halfway through his favorite show when his communicator beeped. "Beast Boy! I need help!" It was Robin, and he was asking for help, which odd because Robin was always able to take care of himself. Beast Boy said, "I'll be right there."

Seconds later, a green bird was flying toward downtown Jump City.

Robin was fighting a losing battle. He had originally thought that he would be dealing with a group of teens who were dabbling in the supernatural. However, when he made it to the top of the building, things immediately went downhill. The leader, who Robin hadn't seen because he was dressed in all black, had said, "Kill him."

The cultists had immediately attacked, and Robin was surprised by their sheer speed. It was incredible, they were so fast that Robin could not even hit them. After a short while of taking a beating, Robin had decided to call the others. He called Titans Tower, and the only one there was Beast Boy, who said he would be on his way. Robin had tried to call the others, but one of the cultists kicked his communicator out of his hands. Robin watched it arc through the air before shattering on the concrete roof of the building.

Suddenly, a small green bird swooped over Robin's shoulder and turned into a giant Tyrannosaur. Beast Boy used his tail to knock two of the surprised cultists unconscious. However, there were still at least six left. Robin couldn't tell exactly, because they were moving too fast.

Beast Boy morphed back into himself and yelled, "Who are these guys?" Robin whipped around, catching one of his attackers in the chest with his staff. "I wish I knew!" he said. Robin noticed the cultists that they had knocked down were getting up. It looked as if there was no way only the two of them could win. Robin yelled to Beast Boy, "Retreat, we need the others if we're going to beat them."

Beast Boy turned into a huge Pterodactyl and grabbed Robin. They flew back toward Titans Tower.

Starfire, Raven, and Cyborg had looked everywhere for Rorek, and had found no trace of him. After a fruitless search, they decided to return to the tower, hoping against hope that Rorek would be there. As Cyborg pulled his car into one of the garages, he noticed a large Pterodactyl land near them.

It was Beast Boy and Robin, and they looked as if they had lost a fight with a lawnmower. Starfire, Raven, and Cyborg rushed over to them, anxious to know what had happened.

The Titans were sitting around the table, discussing Robin and Beast Boy's fight when suddenly the door to the dining room opened. A very tired looking Rorek staggered to the table. He noticed the Titans were wearing worried looks. "Sorry to make you guys worry about me. I was...training."

They heard a noise from outside the room, and Rorek said, "I brought someone who I think you might want to meet." Into the room stepped a very pretty girl with blonde hair.

The Teen Titan's jaws hit the floor, and Beast Boy managed to squeak one word.

"Terra!"


	4. Chapter 4

The Ways of Magic 4

An Interlude:

"Has the boy remembered?", a man in a gray business suit said. "Yes, Wraith. He knows enough for our purposes.", said his companion, a man in a black cloak.

Wraith looked around at the abandoned warehouse they used for their meetings. "And what of the girl?" Wraith said, "She could destroy everything we have worked so hard to create." The cloaked man laughed, "I will take care of her. By the end of tomorrow, neither of them will be a threat."

Wraith smiled, "So it _is_ close to completion?" The cloaked man said, "Yes, very close. Soon, neither the wizard, the empath, or any of their pathetic friends will be a threat to us. For centuries, we have repeatedly failed in our goals, but this time is different. Soon, all of this city...all of the world, for that matter, will have no choice but to bow before us."

Wraith looked at his companion, "And what if the boy remembers too much?" The cloaked man said, "He will burn himself out. And if he doesn't destroy himself, then our master will have to do it for him."

* * *

Chapter 4

Rorek and Raven were sitting at the table after everyone had finished eating. "How did you do it...?" Raven asked, "How did you bring her back?" Raven sounded slightly angry. Rorek looked at her and said, "When I saw that statue, something inside me told me what I had to do, and I did it. The next thing I knew, she was falling off that pedestal."

A distant expression came over Raven, "Well you certainly made Beast Boy happy." Rorek chuckled, "Yeah, neither of them would shut up during dinner." After a moment, Rorek said, "Robin told me about how she betrayed you guys. I didn't know about that whenever I did what I did to free her. Do you think she can be trusted?"

Raven looked surprised at Rorek's question, "After talking to her, I do. I think she genuinely wanted to be our friend before she betrayed us, but she couldn't throw off Slade's control over her."

As Rorek and Raven were getting up from the table, an alarm went off. Robin and the others rushed into the room. Cyborg eagerly said, "Ok, where are we gonna do the butt kicking?" Robin looked puzzled, "At the top of the tower."

* * *

The Titans made their way to the top of the tower. There was a black cloaked figure standing there. His hands were glowing with a bluish-gray energy. Suddenly, a storm moved in off the bay, its lightning illuminating the figure in brief, eerie flashes of light.

The figure slowly raised his face toward the Titans and said in a coldly cruel voice, "Now that I have your attention. I am Caine, and I will be the last thing you ever see." He unleashed a blast of energy which rivaled Cyborg's most powerful sonic cannon attack. The Titans scattered, barely avoiding the blue-gray flames.

Robin leaped at the figure with his staff raised, and was shocked as Caine leaped straight at him, grabbing his staff and using the momentum from Robin's leap to twirl around and slam Robin to the ground.

Rorek, who had only the day before learned to fly, was hovering about six feet to the left of Raven. They looked at other and nodded. Before Caine even hit the ground after attacking Robin, two bolts of energy, one red and one black, slammed into him. An explosion of gold sparks emanated from Caine, and he fell to the ground. Cyborg, who had been firing his sonic cannon, yelled, "Boo ya! Score one for the Teen Titans! What?"

With a speed unmatched by normal humans, Caine had leaped to his feet and rushed Cyborg. The only thing that saved him was a huge green ram that plowed into Caine, sending him sprawling.

Terra, who had been circling the tower while gathering huge chunks of earth with her powers, let loose a barrage of rocks on Caine. With each rock that hit him, Caine stumbled back toward the edge of the tower. However, before he reached the edge he raised his hand towards Terra, spearing her with a blast of energy. Terra fell off of her rock, and over the edge of the tower. Beast Boy turned into a green hawk and swooped down after her.

Starfire, tired of seeing her friends getting pummeled, flew at Caine in what Cyborg would call a "full frontal assault", firing star bolts as she approached. Caine easily side stepped Starfire's attack and grabbed her. He easily tossed Starfire twenty feet, where she landed by an injured Robin.

Raven yelled her mantra, "Azerath Metrion Zinthos," and sent a huge ball of black energy towards Caine. Caine muttered something indistinct and leaped at Raven, who was hovering twenty five feet above the roof of Titans Tower. In mid flight he blasted Rorek with a beam of energy, sending him off the edge of the tower.

Wham! Caine hit Raven with a hard flying tackle that sent them both sprawling to the ground. "Now it's time to get down to business." Caine said with an evil smile. He stood directly over Raven, and aimed an energy blast at Raven's face.

"Touch her and die!" yelled Rorek, who landed on the roof with a thud. Caine was taken aback, "How did you...it doesn't matter. I think I'll kill first, and then finish with the girl."

Suddenly Rorek's eyes began to grow red, and the storm that had been going on suddenly stopped. Rorek looked Caine in the eye and growled, "I think not."

The two combatants stared at each other for a few seconds, then suddenly attacked. Caine leaped straight into the air, dodging a barrage of Rorek's spells. Caine was about to plant a foot in Rorek's face when suddenly, with supernatural speed, Rorek spun around, putting himself behind Caine.

Caine hesitated for an instant, and that was his downfall. Rorek placed his hand against Caine's back and said, "Try and kill this." A blinding flash of red light erupted from Rorek's hand, sending a surprised Caine tumbling over the edge of Titans Tower and into the bay below.

The red light in Rorek's eyes faded, and he fell unconscious onto the pavement.

* * *

An Interlude

Later, Caine managed to drag himself to the warehouse that had become his home. The man called Wraith was waiting for him. Wraith said, "From the looks of it, I'd say you failed in your mission to kill the girl." Caine who could barely manage to walk, sank into a chair and said, "Yes, the wizard is more powerful than we had originally thought. He has regained enough of his powers to challenge us-" Wraith interrupted, "But not enough to challenge _him. _He will never be strong enough to up any kind of a fight against _him_. We made sure of that."

Caine thought for a moment before saying, "So what are we going to do about them?" Wraith gave him a calculating stare and replied, "We will do nothing except wait for our preparations to be complete "

* * *

Rorek slowly returned to consciousness. As his eyes began to register what he was seeing, he saw Starfire standing over him. She gave a squeal and said in a loud voice, "You are ok!" She then gave him a hug that felt like it crushed a few of his ribs. "Shall I make you the pudding of wellness?" she asked. Rorek moaned, "Please, no!" and at seeing Starfire's expression he said, "I don't feel like eating anything right now."

Cyborg entered the room and walked over to where Rorek was laying, "Hey man," Cyborg said, "I'm glad to see your all right. You've been out for almost a whole day."

Rorek looked surprised, "It only seemed like a few minutes." Rorek raised himself off the bed and got to his feet. He was on his way to the kitchen to make himself something to eat when he met Raven in the hall. She looked at him and said, "You saved me." Rorek returned her look, noticing that she looked like she was dying to tell him something, but couldn't get it out. Rorek said, "Yeah, that's what friends are for, right?" He didn't seem to notice the look on Raven's face. Raven sighed and said, "Yeah, that's what they're for." She hung her head and walked away.

Later that night, Robin, Rorek, Stafire, and Cyborg were sitting around watching movies. Beat Boy and Terra, who had of late become inseparable, had gone out to see a movie. No one seemed to notice that Raven hadn't come down. After all, night was her favorite time of the day. Robin looked at Rorek and said, "You know, whenever your not around, Raven won't shut up about you." Rorek had a hard time picturing Raven talking a lot, much less about him.

Cyborg said, "Yeah, I think she _likes_ you." Everybody got a big laugh out of that, except for Rorek. Rorek said, "What's so funny about her liking me?" Cyborg was wearing an expression of disbelief, "Have you ever actually _talked_ to Raven? She's like queen of the ice planet!"

Robin grimaced as he moved his hurt arm the wrong way, "Raven might seem to be really cold, but she actually cares for everyone here, you included. She just can't show it because she has to control her emotions to keep her powers in check. You should try talking to her."

Cyborg imitated Robin, "You should try talking to her...if you like pain. You've seen what she does to BB when he tries to make her laugh."

Rorek nodded, "Yeah, but..." Maybe he _would_ go talk to Raven. After all, she was kind of pretty, and had treated him really nice since he got here. He felt stupid for not realizing it earlier.

A couple of minutes later, he stood outside Raven's door. He knocked, "Hey Raven, can I talk to you for a minute?"

* * *

A/N: What do you think would happen if two spellcasters went on a date? Where would they go? What would they do? If you have any cool ideas, stick them in a review. Let me hear what you think. 


	5. Chapter 5

The Ways of Magic

A/N: This story has hit five whole chapters, which is a first for me. I usually start writing something and scrap it after chapter one because I end up hating it. However, I really like this story. Anyway, enjoy chapter five. Thanks to a reviewer, I realized that I never explained what Rorek actually looks like in my story. He looks like he did in Spellbound, with the white hair and what not. His dark green cloak is open in the front, so it kind of looks like a green version of what Neo wore in the Matrix series. His staff is silver with a red crystal set into the top. That should help you visualize him better. The song excerpt at the beginning of this story doesn't mean this is turning into a song fic, I just thought that the lyrics were relevant to the story.

* * *

Chapter 5:

"Excuse the wall I put up from time to time,

A silver shade, the design is all mine.

Its just a maze, that everyday I seem to be stuck in.

It never seems to fade away,

But I pray for the day it ends."

From "Better Version" by Shinedown

* * *

The door slowly opened, revealing a very angry looking Raven. She was fuming, "Why must everyone interrupt my meditation?"

Rorek was visibly embarrassed at interrupting her meditation. "Uhh, Raven," Rorek said in an uncertain voice. "Would you like to go see a movie or something?"

Rorek mentally berated himself, "Really smooth, you idiot. First you interrupt her during her meditation, and then you ask her out. I wouldn't be surprised if she slaps you."

To Rorek's surprise, Raven's expression immediately changed from one of anger to an expression devoid of any emotion, and she said, "Ok."

Rorek looked at her and asked, "That's a yes, right?" Raven gave a small smile and said, "Yeah, that was a yes."

* * *

A little while later, Rorek and Raven were leaving the tower when they came across Beast Boy and Terra, who were holding hands as they entered the door. Beast Boy was surprised to see the two of them together. He said, "Hey, where are you two going?"

Rorek answered, "We're just going to a movie." Beast Boy was wearing a strange expression, "What, like a date? I didn't think Raven _did_ dates, just like she supposedly didn't _do_ fear." Terra didn't seem to understand what Beast Boy was referring to. Beast Boy and Terra left the room.

* * *

Rorek and Raven arrived at the theater, noticing that Wicked Scary 3 was playing. Beast Boy had told Rorek that it was good, so they decided to see it. The movie turned out to be a horrible piece of trash. It was so bad that Raven actually fell asleep on Rorek's shoulder.

After the movie, Rorek suggested that they go get something to eat at a Mexican food place that the Titans frequently visited. Raven agreed, and they made their way toward the restaurant. After they had been seated, Rorek noticed that they were staring at each other. Rorek decided to break the awkward silence, "Raven, I'm glad you went to that movie with me. I had a good time, even though the movie was crap."

Raven replied, "I usually don't say this much, but I've had a good time too." Rorek took a huge bite of enchilada and said, "That's good, I didn't figured you might like to get out of your room for a while?"

Raven looked slightly annoyed, "And what's wrong with me being in my room?" Rorek started to say something, but then he stopped himself and said, "I can't talk to you or hang out with you if your always in your room."

Raven looked surprised at Rorek's answer, "You really like hanging out with me? I don't know if you've realized this, but everyone else thinks I'm creepy." Rorek put a hand on Ravens shoulder, "Yeah, I know they think you're creepy, but I've already told you I don't." Rorek laughed, "Honestly, the thing that creeps me out the most at Titans Tower is when Starfire offers to make dinner. Now _that's_ creepy."

Raven gave Rorek one of her rare smiles and said, "I'm glad you decided to stay with us at the tower." Rorek smiled back at her and said, "Yeah, I'm also glad I decided to stay too."

As they got up to leave, the manager told them that their meal was on the house. "It's always a pleasure to serve the Teen Titans." the manager said as they left. Rorek and Raven had barely made it out of the restaurant before a group of small kids surrounded them. The Titans had to deal with this sort of hero worship from kids on a regular basis, Robin and Cyborg in particular. However, most of the adults in Jump City regarded people like them with suspicion, due to the many villains that used powers similar to theirs. It put the Teen Titans in an awkward position, because a large portion of the cities inhabitants quietly labeled them as freaks - useful freaks - but still freaks.

"Hey," one of the kids asked, "Can we have your autographs?" Before Raven could make an excuse, Rorek said, "Sure, we'll give you our autographs." After signing whatever objects the kids wanted signed, Raven and Rorek flew to the top of one of Jump City's many skyscrapers.

They sat down on its edge and looked across the city. After a while Rorek said, "You know, before I became trapped in that book I could have never imagined a city this big." Raven replied, "It must have been a shock for you when you first arrived here. Have you remembered anything about those missing days before we found you?"

Rorek looked disappointed and said, "No, I still can't remember anything. I know that there is something really important that happened during that time. I can feel it."

Raven then did something that completely shocked Rorek, she kissed him. It was a quick kiss, but it was a kiss nonetheless. Rorek felt a strange mixture of happiness and shock. He looked Raven in the eye, noticing she was blushing beet red. In a world where magic was generally regarded with fear and suspicion, he had found someone he could relate to. And better yet, she really _liked_ him. "Hey Raven, I think you should know that was -"

He never got to finish his sentence, because at that moment Raven's communicator started beeping. It was Robin, and he sounded worried. "Talk about bad timing." Rorek thought. Robin's voice crackled through the communicator, "Hey, come back to the tower, we have some visitors you guys might know."

Rorek stood up and helped Raven to her feet, "For some reason, I don't think that this is gonna be good."

* * *

They arrived at the tower, noticing a strange car parked close to it. When they entered the living room, they saw who these 'visitors' were. There was an attractive looking girl with pink hair sitting on the couch, and a small boy, who was walking on mechanical spider legs that extended out of his back pack. They were Jinx and Gizmo from HIVE Academy.

Ravens expression, which up until that point had almost been happy, soured, and she said in her typical icy voice, "All right, what are _they_ doing here?"

Robin who had been talking to Gizmo, said, "Apparently, that guy Caine has been attacking many of the HIVE's magic using students. It appears someone is trying to get rid of all of the spellcasters in this city. If I hadn't seen Caine attempt to kill Raven, I wouldn't have believed these two. As much as I hate to say this, I think we should help them."

Rorek, who had been silently thinking to himself, said, "And Jinx is a magic user, right?"

Jinx said, "Yes, I specialize in curses. I'm the only spellcaster at HIVE that this...Caine...hasn't managed to pound yet."

Cyborg said, "So they want our help in finding Caine and putting him out of commission." Cyborg adjusted one of his settings and said, "Hey BB, are you even listening?"

Beast Boy had until that point been in the form of a cat laying on Terra's lap. He jumped down, shifted into his normal form and said, "Yeah, I'm listening. You say that we're supposed to take out this Caine. Didn't you notice that Rorek was the only one of us that could even scratch him?"

Rorek said, "Maybe that's so, but I couldn't slow him down enough so we could get any information out of him."

Cyborg looked very pleased with himself as he said, "We don't need to get information anymore. When I managed to blast him with my sonic cannon, I also attached a micro tracking beacon to him. At first it didn't seem to be working, but just recently my sensors began picking up its signal."

Robin asked, "Where is he now?"

Cyborg pressed a few buttons on his arm display, "He's currently at an old warehouse near the harbor."

Robin said, "Titans, and you two," he gestured to Jinx and Gizmo, "Lets go."

* * *

The arrived at the warehouse a short while later. It was locked, so Raven blasted the lock off the door. As they walked inside, Cyborg said, "I just lost him! He was here a second ago, and now he's not!"

"Split up and look for anything that could tell us what's going on here." Robin said. They searched the warehouse for about half an hour before hearing Raven and Rorek say that they found something.

The group met in the middle of the warehouse and waited as Raven explained some very bad news. Raven held up a large leather bound book. She explained, "This is called the Draconomicon, the book of dragons. In this book are all of the secret rituals of the dragons. Summoning, binding, even destruction spells are contained within its pages. I found it opened to the ritual that would allow someone to bind the spirit of a dragon into a human being. That would allow the dragon to move unnoticed through the city, while retaining all of its draconic abilities."

Rorek didn't look too worried, "That's not so bad. We could take down a normal dragon with no problem. The hardest part would be finding the possessed human."

Raven gave Rorek an look that said she wasn't done explaining, "This particular spell only works on elder dragons. And as far as I know, there is only one elder dragon spirit that would still be a viable candidate for this ritual."

Rorek started nervously pacing, "That's impossible. Please, tell me you don't mean -"

Raven cut him off, and said the name of the one being that Rorek never wanted to face again.

"Malchior."

Rorek paled and managed to weakly say, "Oh...".

* * *

An Interlude:

In a dark room in some nameless building, the man called Wraith listened to Raven's entire explanation through a small listening device that he had installed in the warehouse. He turned to the man in a black cloak, "They already know of the ritual, we had hoped they wouldn't learn of it until later."

The man in black smiled, an expression that gave him the look of the grim reaper on a good day, "Don't worry Wraith, you have done well in the preparations for my return, and you will be richly rewarded. I have to congratulate you on choosing Caine as my host body, his superhuman strength and speed greatly compliment my already formidable powers. As for the Titans finding out about our plans, they don't even have any idea that the ritual has already been carried out. I think we will have a bit of fun with them before we destroy them."

Wraith looked relieved that he was not going to be punished for the Titans discovery of the plan.

Wraith nodded and said, "Whatever you wish, Malchior my lord."


	6. Chapter 6

The Ways of Magic

Chapter 6: Revelations

"_Raven told me that Malchior, the dragon king who I thought to be burning in the Eternal Abyss, had returned. At first I didn't want to believe her, because I had barely managed to defeat Malchior all those years ago when I fought him one on one. I told her what I was thinking and she said, 'You're not going to be fighting one on one anymore, because now you have me, and the rest of the Titans to fight beside you.' I am glad that I have a friend like Raven."_

_- Rorek_

Six Titans, one teenage wizard, and two HIVE members stood in the middle of a dark warehouse, discussing the new situation that had emerged. To them, it seemed that their only hope rested on finding Caine, who had been attacking spellcasters throughout Jump City.

Cyborg said, "As soon as I get a lock on Caine, we can go take him down and see what information we can get out of him." The others seemed to think that Cyborg's plan was a good idea. They decided to regroup at the tower, where they could effectively plan a new course of action.

Once back at the tower, Rorek gave them more bad news, "Raven, let's say that Malchior has already possessed a human host. The only time I have had to fight him is when he was in his dragon form. Would him being bound to a human host give him any weaknesses we could exploit?"

Raven, who was intently studying the Draconomicon, said, "Yes, it says here that he will lose much of his draconic immunity to physical attacks, which means that we would actually have a chance of destroying his host body."

Robin looked disgusted, "But wouldn't that kill whoever he's possessing?" Robin and the rest of the Titans always tried to detain their targets, not destroy them.

Raven shook her head, "No, the host's soul is forced out of the body at the time of possession, which means we're not actually hurting anybody." She looked around at everybody, "However, once we destroy his body, there is a chance that he will be able to revert to dragon form. This book has spells designed for killing dragons. Rorek, Jinx, you should memorize them, because that will be the only thing that will be able to stop him once he is in his dragon form." Raven looked very pleased that her 'creepy' knowledge of spells had become useful.

* * *

The rest of the day passed without event, and Cyborg was not able to relocate Caine. As everyone was getting ready for bed Cyborg approached Robin, "Are we really gonna let Gizmo stay in our tower?"

Robin answered, "Yes we are. Neither of them has done anything wrong this far, so I see no problem with them staying here."

Cyborg looked a little annoyed, "Don't you remember, that little guy hates us...especially me!"

Robin smiled, "You're not worried about Jinx trying something?"

Cyborg fidgeted nervously, "Well, no. Not really."

Robin said, "You still like her, don't you?"

Cyborg turned and walked away.

* * *

Rorek was standing in the ruins of Jump City's downtown district. Everything was in flames. It was almost like being imprisoned in the book, except he was alone. He walked toward the sound of a girl screaming. "Maybe I will at least be able to save _someone_." As he neared the sound of the screaming, he could see where it was coming from. She was suspended in a column of golden light. At first he couldn't tell who she was, but as he approached it became all too obvious. She was wearing a blue cloak that was pulled down to reveal familiar purple hair. It was...

"Raven!" Rorek screamed as he sat up in his bed, breathing heavily. Rorek new from past experience that dreams usually related to something in real life, but what was the message of that dream? He looked at a clock, it was five thirty. He got out of bed and went to the kitchen. He made a bowl of cereal and sat down. He thought about his last, desperate battle with Malchior and shuddered. "Malchior, when the fight starts," he thought, "I will be the one to finish you."

Terra entered the room and said, "Hey, good morning." Rorek said, "Hi.", which was evidently a good enough answer for her, because she went about making some very tasty looking pastries. He couldn't shake the image of Raven entrapped in a column of light out of his mind. "I need some stress relief." he said.

After he was finished eating, he went to the Titan's gym. He walked over to the punching bag and began punching it. He kept punching until a red haze began to cloud his vision. He screamed and gave the punching bag a hard left hook. Red energy exploded out of his fist, causing the punching bag to rip in half. He thought, "They can get a new one." and sat down. He was visibly shaking. To try to calm himself, he repeated Raven's mantra several times. Raven's meditation techniques always seemed to help calm him down.

It was nearing dawn, and Rorek decided to go for a walk. It was a very foggy morning, Rorek couldn't see more than fifty feet in front of him. He walked down to the water and began jogging along the shore line. After jogging a good distance, he turned and looked out over the bay. He saw something that almost made his heart stop.

* * *

The mists parted, revealing a lone figure walking across the water towards Rorek. Rorek instinctively knew it was Caine. He assumed a defensive posture, just in time for a fireball to slam into him, burning him and throwing him halfway back to Titans Tower. As he struggled to his feet, he noticed that Caine was already standing over him.

_Wham_! A hard right hook slammed into the side of Rorek's head, sending him reeling and causing him to see stars. In between punches Caine said, in a voice not his own, "Do you know who I am?"

A look of realization crossed Rorek's face, "Malchior. I'm going to kill you like I should have done a long time ago." Secretly, Rorek was worried. Malchior had possessed Caine, which would make fighting him even harder.

Malchior stopped his attack and laughed, "Your going to kill me? How are you going to do that when I've already killed you?"

Rorek said in a voice full of disbelief, "What are you talking about?" As he finished his sentence, the piece of ground he was standing on lifted into the air and flew toward Titans Tower. He could see Terra through the large window where Raven meditated. It was opened, so he jumped through.

Rorek said, "Hey Terra, you know I can fly too, right?"

Terra laughed, "Yeah, but you were getting beat up pretty bad out there, and I figured you could use some help. Plus, I still haven't repaid my debt to you for bringing me back."

Rorek said, "Consider it repaid." He looked out the window, "I have never seen anyone that powerful before. Where's Raven?"

Terra said, "She's probably in her room, as always."

* * *

Rorek ran all the way to Raven's room. He knocked and said, "It's me."

Raven opened the door. She looked at him oddly, noticing the huge bruise forming on his temple. "What's wrong?" she said in a voice that sounded as if she didn't care, but Rorek knew better.

"He was out there," Rorek pointed at the ground, "Not a mile from here." Rorek looked Raven in the eyes and said, "He attacked me while I was taking an early walk. I wouldn't be here if Terra hadn't also been up early."

Raven was looking very confused, "Rorek, _who_ was out there? What are you talking about?"

Rorek said, "Malchior, he was out there. He attacked me."

Rorek noticed that his robes were still smoking from when he had been hit by the fireball. Raven noticed too and said, "Are you sure you're ok?"

"I'll be fine. I'm going to get the others." As he walked away, he looked back at her, remembering his dream.

"No," he thought, "I'll never let anything like that happen to her."

* * *

Rorek went to his room and changed into a fresh cloak. When he went down into the living area, Cyborg immediately said, "I got a lock on your friend."

Rorek looked around at the assembled team. "Listen," Rorek said, "Malchior is still here because I failed to destroy him completely. I want to be the one to finish the job. I'll be back later."

Robin immediately said, "What? There's no way you're going to fight that thing alone, and I don't care if he _is_ your problem. Around here, one person's problem is everyone's problem. It might have slipped your mind, but we have a score to settle with Malchior too, not to mention how he deceived Raven."

Rorek gave an exasperated sigh, "You're right. It would be stupid of me to fight Malchior by myself. I'm not even sure of what all he's capable of."

"And you don't have this." Raven entered the room, holding the Draconomicon, "You won't get very far without these spells."

Cyborg looked at Rorek, "Now that that's settled, let's go."

As they walked to Cyborg's car, Rorek asked, "Hey Cyborg, where did you get a lock on Malchior at?"

Cyborg answered, "The warehouse we were at yesterday, it seems that he likes that place."

Rorek answered, "Yeah, but it's strange he would go back there again, unless he's planning something, which he probably is."

Cyborg replied, "Yeah, these type people have a tendency to plan out a grand final to their scheme, and it usually doesn't work."

Rorek gave Cyborg a sideways look, "I wouldn't exactly call Malchior a _person_. And I don't think you realize how powerful he is."

Beast Boy, who had been mostly silent, said "I guess we'll find out when we get there."

* * *

When they arrived at the warehouse, everything was silent except for the click of Gizmo's mechanical legs on the pavement. The team entered the warehouse, and were shocked to see how much it had changed.

Where there had been boxes piled twenty feet high, there was now nothing. The warehouse had been totally cleaned out, making it look like some sort of futuristic arena. And standing in the middle of it was Malchior.

Malchior waved his hands and cast what Rorek knew to be a spell that magically silenced people.

"Well," Malchior said, "If it isn't the Teen Titans. Don't bother introducing yourselves, I know all about you." He looked at Rorek and said, "And I especially know all about you, 'Rorek'. Yes, even though we've only met face to face today, I know a great deal about you."

Rorek said, "What are you talking about? I've fought you many times. I was imprisoned with you for hundreds of years. And now I'm going to finish the job that I started hundreds of years ago."

Malchior gave an evil smile, "Oh please, only the wizard Rorek stood a chance against me." Malchior smiled even wider at seeing Rorek's confusion.

Rorek said, "Then you must know _I am_ the wizard Rorek. And like I said, I'm going to finish the job that I started." Rorek threw a blast of red energy at Malchior's face.

Malchior swatted the blast aside like an insect, "Do you honestly believe that a sixteen year old wizard could destroy the King of Dragons. Don't delude yourself, you are not the wizard Rorek. Rorek is dead, by my own hands I might add." He took a few steps toward Rorek and his friends, who were still unable to speak, or even move.

Rorek threw several stronger energy blasts at Malchior, only to watch as they were swatted out of the air like mosquitoes, leaving small craters all around Malchior. "Ok," the young wizard said, "If I am not Rorek, than who am I?"

Malchior laughed, "You are merely a boy who _looks_ like the great wizard Rorek, although at a much younger age then when he beat me."

The young wizard backed up a few steps and said, "First you say you killed Rorek, and now you say he beat you? Which is it, dragon?"

Malchior advanced on the young wizard, "Let me clarify myself, for I was unclear about _when_ I killed Rorek. Rorek died only a few days ago, while still being trapped in the same book where I was imprisoned." He looked at Raven, "Oh Raven, if you had only known. Even though he couldn't talk to you, he thought very highly of you. Had he escaped as I did, he would have been like the father you never had." Raven's eyes widened, the only movement she was capable of.

"Yes," Malchior said in a sinister voice, "He would have been just...like...a father. You could have learned so much from him, were he still alive." Tears began to stream down Raven's face.

"You bastard!" the young wizard screamed as he unleashed a flurry of fireballs on Malchior. Malchior caught the fireballs in mid air and sent them back at their creator, sending the boy tumbling backward.

Malchior grinned, "And as for you, boy. Wouldn't you like to know your story? When I escaped, I knew that I couldn't risk the real Rorek contacting Raven after I left the book, so I found you. You looked enough like the real Rorek to pass as him, but you had no skill in the arcane arts. I imbued you with a portion of my own powers, putting you on par with most spellcasters in this world, but not putting you in a position where you would become a threat to me. I also took the liberty of replacing your memories with some of Rorek's. That was when I was only an insubstantial spirit, holding onto the mortal plane. That was before I became...this." He gestured at himself, then at Rorek, "After I firmly anchored into the mortal plane, it was a simple matter to project myself into Raven's book and kill Rorek." Malchior smiled at the boys expression, "Yes boy, your powers came from me, and I still control them."

With that, Malchior snapped his fingers and an aura of purple light surrounded the young, nameless wizard, causing him to scream in agony. Malchior seemed to drink in the boys suffering like a fine wine before he said, "Now I think I'll kill all of you one at a time," he looked at Raven, "Starting with you."

Through a haze of pain, the young wizard who had thought himself to be Rorek saw Malchior approach the spot where Raven was standing, still unable to move. Malchior lifted her off of the ground and threw her into a wall. Raven hit the wall with a loud thud.

Malchior gave a sadistic smile, and he looked at the wizard who's identity he had stripped away, "Do you like watching her suffer? Would you like it to be a little louder?" Malchior dispelled his silence spell, allowing Rorek to hear Raven's cries of pain. Malchior then tossed Raven across the room to where she landed at Rorek's feet. "Oh, look at this." Malchior said, "She's laying at your feet in pain and there is nothing you can do to help her." He blasted her with a sustained beam of energy, causing her to scream. "Isn't that sad, the real Rorek wasn't able to save the people he loved, and neither can you."

Deep inside the boy, in the place where anger and hate are kept bottled up, something snapped. He felt rage flow through him as if it was his blood, and a dark red haze clouded his vision to the point where all he could see was Malchior. Suddenly, the purple aura that had been binding him in place flickered out, and a chill wind seemed to emanate from him.

Malchior took a step away from the boy, "What? That power, that could only mean. No it can't be. You're just a boy with no name. I made you into what you are."

The boy took a defensive posture over Raven and growled, "No...my name is Rorek."

Every light bulb in the building exploded, leaving the warehouse bathed in the eerie red glow which emanated from Rorek's eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

The Ways of Magic

A/N: This is it, the showdown between the young wizard calling himself Rorek and the evil dragon Malchior! I know I probably haven't had a lot of readers because this isn't a straight up love story (like 90 of these fan fics are), but I don't care. Please review this and tell me what you think.

Chapter 7: The Reckoning

"_There are people who commit atrocities so vile that they forfeit their right to live. It is these types of people that vigilantes like myself hunt. When Rorek told me about this 'Malchior', and what he did to Raven, I agreed that killing him was the best thing that could have been done. Rorek then told me that Malchior got off easy."_

_- Joseph "Anubis" Vladicek_

Every light in the warehouse exploded, leaving the interior bathed in the unearthly red glow that seemed to pour from Rorek's eyes. Rorek stepped toward Malchior, who was wearing a smug expression under his hood.

"So, just because you're a little sensitive to the ways of magic, you would take the name of one of the most powerful wizards of all time?" Malchior asked.

Rorek continued to advance on Malchior, who said, "How pathetically stupid are you, boy?" Malchior, still in his human form, breathed a jet of flame at Rorek. It had no effect whatsoever, and Rorek kept advancing.

Malchior sneered, "I'm _really_ going to enjoy watching you die, as I enjoyed watching the _real_ Rorek die." Malchior threw off his cloak, leaving him clad in a black shirt and black pants. He raised his hands, and claws extended from his fingers.

Suddenly, Rorek leaped at Malchior, grabbing him by the throat and flinging him across the warehouse. Malchior crashed into the wall with a loud thud, the force of the impact causing dust to fall from the ceiling, giving the illusion that the warehouse was full of a red fog. Malchior clambered to his feet and rubbed a spot on his face. He was bleeding.

"If you surrender now," Rorek said, "I'll grant you an easy death." Rorek released a massive blast of energy. It sent Malchior crashing through the wall of the warehouse and out into the street. Rorek saw Malchior barely manage to struggle to a standing position. Malchior fell to his knees and started screaming, because at that moment large black wings erupted from his back.

"Oh no!" Rorek said. He ran to where Raven had just propped herself up against the wall. "Raven, its happening. He's turning back into a dragon!" Rorek's eyes had reverted back to their normal blue shade.

Raven said, "Then we have to find him before he hurts anyone." Suddenly they could hear many people screaming outside, and Rorek's eyes reverted back to a glowing red.

Rorek said, "I think it's too late for that." He gestured toward where his friends were magically petrified. They all started moving and looking around confusedly.

Beast Boy looked at Rorek and said, "Dude, did you just win?" Excited looks crossed everyone's faces...until they heard all of the screaming coming from outside.

Robin said, "Listen, the only three people that have a chance of stopping Malchior are Rorek, Raven, and Jinx. The rest of us will go save as many people as we can."

Rorek agreed and said, "Good idea. Let's go."

As they stepped out into the city, with the sounds of agonized screams surrounding them, Rorek noticed a horrifying fact.

The city was burning, exactly as it was in his dream.

* * *

The three spellcasters had no trouble finding Malchior, as a huge black dragon flying around is pretty easy to spot. Rorek cast a levitation spell on Jinx, and they all flew toward Malchior. Malchior saw them coming and flew off toward the downtown district.

"Raven," Rorek said, "You should know that I never even looked at that book you have."

Jinx, who was flying ten feet to Rorek's left said, "Well its a good thing that I did _my_ homework."

Rorek said, "Yeah, whatever. You two cast the destruction spell when he begins to look weak."

Jinx gave him a strange look, "And when will he begin looking weak?"

Rorek's eyes glowed a brighter red, "When I beat the living crap out of him."

Malchior had landed on top of a tall building and was taking out his anger on anyone who was in range of his flames. Rorek landed on the building, using his powers to shield himself from the dragon's flames.

"What an annoying little fly you are." Malchior said as his tail whipped out toward Rorek. Rorek didn't see it coming until it was too late, and was knocked off the side of the building.

Malchior laughed and reverted back to human form. Suddenly the pavement under him exploded as a massive beam of energy shot straight up out of the building. Malchior was thrown into the air by the force of the explosion. Rorek leaped out of the hole in the ruined building and flew straight at Malchior, who had once again spread his wings.

Malchior was hovering in mid air, his wings giving him the appearance of a fallen angel. He said, "I'm surprised, boy. I did not expect you to be as powerful as you are. It's too bad that worthy opponents only come along every thousand years or so."

Rorek, who was flying straight at Malchior's face, never saw the spell until it was on him. A thick green cloud of noxious vapors enveloped Rorek, choking him and sending him careening towards the ground. Rorek landed hard on his face, and the rusty taste of blood filled his mouth. Suddenly there was an agonizing pain in his back as Malchior slammed his foot down on Rorek's spine. Rorek became dizzy with pain as his face hit the ground a second time.

He felt himself being pulled to his feet, and was soon looking Malchior in the eyes. "Well little boy, how does it feel to die?" Malchior began to squeeze Rorek's throat.

Rorek had just enough air to say, "I don't know, how _does_ it feel?" He reached up, and caught the sharp piece of steel that he had summoned to him. A look of surprise crossed Malchior's face as Rorek jammed the piece of steel into the dragon's stomach.

Malchior released Rorek, and stumbled backward as he clutched at his wound. He began screaming as the wound forced him to take his true form. Rorek flew out of the way to avoid being crushed under the dragon. He looked down at his enemy and noticed something.

The dragon had a large wound on its chest.

* * *

Rorek saw Raven and Jinx floating against the side of a building. "Do it now! He's wounded!"

A strange golden glow began to surround both of the girls. Rorek was too busy watching them to notice that Malchior had also noticed them. Jinx and Raven were too busy staring at the Draconomicon to notice the jet of flame racing toward them.

The flame smashed into the two of them like a tsunami smashes into a small coastal town. Raven barely managed to throw up on of her shields. Jinx had tried to dodge it, thus putting her outside of Raven's shield. The glass windows behind them shattered as Jinx body smashed into them.

Rorek was busy throwing as many of his spells at Malchior as he could, but it didn't seem to be hurting the dragon anymore than it already was. Rorek was desperate, Raven needed someone else to cast that spell.

A sudden explosion of golden light blinded Rorek, when his vision cleared, he saw something that made chills run down his spine. Raven was encased in a column of golden light that seemed to come from the Draconomicon, which had been dropped.

"Why do only _my_ nightmares seem to come true?" Rorek thought as he raced towards the Draconomicon, dodging jets of flame as he went.

Rorek was only ten feet away when one of Malchior's flames hit the book, incinerating it. There burning book exploded in a shower of gold sparks.

Suddenly, Rorek had a flashback to the first day he was with the Titans. Raven had thrown a bolt of energy at him that had fused with his magic, exploding into a shower of gold sparks that had looked like a tiny fireworks display. The same thing had happened when they were fighting Caine on the roof of the tower.

Rorek was snapped back into reality as Raven fell past him. He caught her inches before she hit the ground. She was hurt, but not bad. "At least some parts of my dream weren't true." he thought.

He helped Raven to her feet and said, "The book has been destroyed and I don't know those spells, but I think we can still beat him."

"How?" Raven asked. She gave him a questioning look.

Rorek started talking fast, because Malchior had just stood up, "You know how you always try to control your emotions? Forget about doing that. We need every bit of power we can get. Let your emotions go and give him everything you've got!"

Malchior roared and charged at them with a speed that was frightening. Raven said, "I can't do that. You know I can't control my powers when I let go."

Malchior was a mere hundred feet from them when Rorek yelled, "That's what I'm counting on. Have you forgotten what he's done to you? He used you!"

Raven replied in a voice that could have been made of icicles, "No...I haven't forgot." Suddenly an aura of black energy surrounded her, and a Rorek breathed a sigh of relief.

Rorek let the familiar feelings of rage flow through him. When the dark red haze clouded his vision, he knew it was time to act.

The dragon's face was mere feet away from them as they released two beams of energy, one red and one black. However, a strange thing happened, the two beams of energy fused with each other into a beam of whitish gold light. It slammed into Malchior, instantly burning a hole through him that was large enough for a car to drive through.

Malchior froze and looked down at the large smoking hole in his chest, as if he was unable to believe that he could be defeated by two kids. The dragon's red eyes slowly dimmed as it breathed it's last breath. The ground shook as the dragon fell to the ground.

Both Rorek and Raven regained control over their emotions and looked at each other.

Rorek said, "We beat him! Not bad for a couple of teenagers, you know?"

* * *

Interlude

Wraith sat around a table with six other hooded figures. The room was dark, and the only light came from a view screen built into the table.

Wraith said, "As you all know, they slew Malchior."

Someone said, "I'm not surprised."

Someone laughed and said, "And he thought we summoned him so that he could be _our_ master. How pathetically egotistical he was."

Someone else said, "Will we be raising him again?"

Wraith replied, "Oh yes, most definitely. He will make an interesting pawn."

Someone said, "Do you want us to continue with the other summoning?"

Wraith answered, "Yes, maybe they will prove more useful than the dragon was."

Someone said, "It's a shame we lost Slade, he was one of our better tools."

Wraith chuckled, "But he tried to introduce his own pawn into the game, which ultimately resulted in his downfall."

Someone said, "Yes, Slade turned out to be a weaker pawn then we expected."

Wraith looked over the assembled circle, "With our next attempt, we cannot afford to fail..."

* * *

That night, Rorek was sitting by himself on the roof of Titans Tower, which was one of his favorite thinking spots.

Rorek said to himself, "Who am I? If Malchior was telling the truth, which I think he was, then I'm no closer to finding out who I am then when the Teen Titans took me in. These past weeks have been a lie. I'm not the wizard Rorek, I'm just borrowing his name. My memories were just another way for Malchior to get what he wanted. I was used just like Raven."

He failed to notice the two figures behind him until Raven spoke up, "I know who you are," she said. "You _are_ Rorek, just not the one you thought you were. I think that the old Rorek would be proud that you are using his name."

Rorek stood up and said, "Thanks. I just can't believe that I was used so completely that I didn't even realize it."

Robin, who was the second figure said, "I've been talking with the rest of the team, and we want to give you this." He pulled a communicator out of his belt and tossed it to Rorek.

Rorek looked a both of them and said, "Wait...does this mean-?"

Robin said, "Yeah, welcome to the Teen Titans."

* * *

A/N: Well that's the end of "The Ways of Magic", but its not the end of the story. All of my stories that I have planned out will build off each other, so my next story will be a sequel to this one. Don't forget to review this. 


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